Deficiency - folic acid, Folic acid deficiency

Anemia (low red blood cell count) and, in severe cases, low levels of white blood cells and platelets are complications. In folate-deficiency anemia, the red blood cells are abnormally large.

Folic acid is also needed for the development of a healthy fetus. It plays an important part in the development of the fetus' spinal cord and brain. Folic acid deficiency can cause severe birth defects of the brain and spinal cord, known as neural tube defects.

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First trimester of pregnancy

Folic acid

Early weeks of pregnancy

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Folate deficiency Prevention

Review Date: 08/09/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)